#RADAR REFLECTOR USE HOW TO#

But in the fog (or at night), it can be quite difficult unless you under stand your radar and how to use it, including collision prediction. This is relatively easy when you're also using your eyes with good visibility. Yes, there's no avoiding it - we all need a bosuns chair or some similar device.īut not only must it be safe, it must feel safe if it's to inspire confidence in the user.

Lower down we have the, the steaming light and the deck light, the small blocks for the flag halyards. All commercial vessels and many yachts use radar as a means of collision avoidance and it is for this reason a reflector is used. Unless there is one permanently fitted, hoist a high up the rigging as possible. Reefing: In sailboats, we need to sometimes reduce the effective area of the sail in bad weather.

It basically improves your visibility on radar and thus helps with navigation. : A device that allows your ship or boat to be identified on other's radar systems for longer distances. A device to reflect radar waves back to their source so that a boat shows up more prominently on the radar screen as in: Because wet sails may interfere with the radar beam boaters should consider using a permanently mounted on each side of the mast. Knowing how to interpret a radar picture properly will pay dividends in fog. Which one you choose will depend on the depth of your pocket, but be wary of going for cheap and cheerful. Broad reach, sailing with the wind abaft the beam.Ī is one of the few SOLAS V requirements for small craft. Close reach, sailing nearly close-hauled. REACH- Points of sailing between running and pointing close-hauled. Metallic contrivance which reflects radar beams. S & Transponders - Mobri, Pains Wessex, Echomax, ACR, Davis Pleasure craft that are under 20 metres in length or a craft which is constructed primarily of non-metallic materials (wood or fiberglass), must be equipped with a passive. Many small boats are made with fiberglass and other materials that do not reflect radar very well on their own. In general, these fixtures will materially improve the visibility for use by vessels with radar.Īn object designed to increase the radio reflectivity of a boat so that it is more visible on radar. A special fixture fitted to a vessel or incorporated into the design of certain aids to navigation to enhance their ability to reflect radar energy. It shall be carried by pleasure craft that are less than 20m and constructed primarily of non-metallic material. Radar reflectors are required for boats under 20 m and boats that are built of mostly non-metallic materials.Ī Radar Reflector ensures other ships carrying radar can see you. Ī radar reflector is a metallic device that is used to identify the position of your boat to other vessels equipped with radar. That ships equipped with radar can locate them. Such reflectors are mounted on buoys and beacons so The result formsĮight three-sided funnels. Three plane surfaces meeting at right angles to each other. A passive reflector of radar emissions, usually made of

Radar reflector use